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SASANOA AND THE WOOL WITCH 




REV. GEORGE S. DELANO 



Sasanoa and the Wool Witch 



A Romance of Legendary History 



BY 

REV. GEORGE S. DELANO 



PORTLAND, MAINE 

SMITH & SALE, PUBLISHERS 

MDCCCCXI 



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COPYRIGHT BY 

SMITH & SALE, PUBLISHERS 

I9II 



©CI.A286459 



- Maine ! the home of my fathers since 1785 : Maine ! the 

land of forests and mountains, of big rivers, of 

mighty cascades : The home of a race of Men and 

Women whose characters have woven into the 

Nation for its strength and upbuilding : 

To Maine I dedicate my work 

GEORGE S. DELANO 



CONTENTS 



SASANOA AND THE WOOL WITCH 

ADVENT OF SASANOA 

BIRTH OF THE RANGER 

RESCUE OF SASANOA 

SPIRIT RANGER 

VALLEY OF GRAVES 

SASANOA'S JOURNEY 

MISSION OF THE CONE BRAVES 

THE ISLAND HOME . 

WITCH GURNAY'S VICTORY 

TRANSFORMATION . 

BIRTH OF THE RIVER SASANOA 

ARROWSIC .... 

THE NEW MORNING 



3 

5 
10 
18 

25 
33 
45 
5° 

55 
62 

68 
73 
75 
80 



PREFACE 

SASANOA was an Indian Princess at the time 
when the Wool Witch held sway in the valley 
of the Kennebec, from Kineo to Seguin, and from 
the Bay of Fogs to Machigonne. 

The Wool Witch was no mere necromancer ; she 
was prophetess, seer, and priestess ; her power was 
absolute throughout the land wherever her name 
was known. She it was who turned Indian cruelty 
and vengeance upon themselves, and by her mar- 
vellous insight into Nature's mysteries, brought 
about the concentration of volcanic forces which 
ploughed from the Kennebec to Hockamock bay 
the path where now, between Arrowsic and Wool- 
witch islands, Sasanoa river winds its way among 
marshes and through Hell Gate's rock-strewn chan- 
nel. Arrowsic, the young Indian, was the Wool 
Witch's controlled, visible power among thelndians. 
Around him and Sasanoa weaves the romance of 
legendary history of days when Egyptian touched 
hand and heart with Israelite in the land now 
Maine. 

GEORGE S. DELANO 
PORTLAND, MAINE 
MARCH, I9I I 



SASANOA AND THE WOOL WITCH 



SASANOA AND THE WOOL WITCH 

THOUGH last among the new-born lands 
To uplift have from human hands, 
The western sphere's great northern wild 
Made sturdy way, for there, a child 
From lands grown old in wealth and brain, 
Came strangely in, to blend a strain 
Of refined blood, and matter grey 
Where monkey-men had long held sway. 

Why God e'er made the earth or sea 
Will always a great myst'ry be, 
But yet no more than why those lost 
From Israel's tribes o'er Behring crossed, 
Or, Andrew-ben, from Egypt came, 
Forgetting wealth, forsaking fame, 
And from his race wove in a strain 
Of holy life in northern Maine. 

Kennebec's shore, from sea to bay, 

A rocky-ribbed, green furrow lay, 

Turned eastward, when the mountains sent 

Their icy mists, in streams which rent 

The molten mass, by force of steam, 

Like plows deep-drawn on high-chained beam : 



SASANOA AND THE WOOL WITCH 

But midway of this tree-crowned bank, 
A valley bent, where dense and rank 
The verdure was, where quicksands lay 
'Neath beds of moss, and that dark way, 
That cavern vast, trenched deep by flame 
From that hot mass round which the earth 
Her walls congealed at Nature's birth. 

Within that vale, though winter's gales 

Near-by piled snow in drifting wales, 

Was constant life of plant and grass 

Like that which thrives in house of glass, 

For slumb'ring fires the cavern filled 

With heat which frost had never chilled : 

There herded game, and 'mong the crests 

Of lofty cliffs, were eagles' nests : 

Like paradise, this vale appeared, 

Walled in with rocks by earthquakes seared, 

Yet, 'neath that place where Nature gave 

Abundant life, was hid a grave, 

A place unknown, though often sought 

Where scent of game had death's breath brought, 

The place whose gate could not be seen 

Beneath the beds of mosses green, 

But which oped wide, when o'er the mass 

Of shifting sands, man dared to pass. 



ADVENT OF SASANOA 

WHERE the constant waves of Kennebec's tide 
Forever inweave round Isle Spirit Bride, 
Were tanglings of cliffs 'mid trees densely grown, 
Where, bright though it be, the sun dimly shone ; 
A place wherein those, whose brains were half-born, 
Gave home to the witch, whose skin, brilliant red, 
Was tangled with fleece like a sheep half shorn, 
The being who roamed 'neath the river's bed, 
Whose voice pitched the key of the thunder's roar, 
Who rocked the mountains, and o'er the land bore 
The poisonous blast of Hockamock's breath ; 
The spirit whose joy was the red man's death, 
The gleam of whose eyes could the harvests sear, 
The bisons frighten, and scatter the deer, 
The Wool Witch supreme, begotten from space, 
The ego of wrath without kin or race. 

Why came the princess to that gruesome place 
Which the bravest passed as nightmares men trace ? 
Those hearts can conceive which hunger for love, 
Those minds comprehend which constancy prove ; 
But, up from the east she fearlessly came, 
Believing the Witch, whose name and whose fame 



SASANOA AND THE WOOL WITCH 

Crept into men's minds like that chill of mists 
Which over our blood so snake-like persists, 
Such a godhood was as all men must find — 
As men always seek, be it sun or wind — 
To whom they bow down, in whom they behold 
That power of life which for aye has rolled 
In quivering waves through the atom man 
Enfolding all sense by the psychic span. 

Through the winding way to Nequassett bay 
She sped swiftly on to the vale of graves, 
Thence, northward her course up the river lay 
O'er crossing of tides and swirling of waves, 
Where the sea came in with its foaming crests 
And gulls piped along to their sedge-hid nests. 

Beheld she the smoke wherein she had thought 
Abode the being whose succor she sought, 
But no sentient one did her eyes behold, 
No spirit whose voice as the thunder rolled, 
No hand reaching out to show her the way 
Where, living or dead, her Arrowsic lay, 
Her brave, who alone, had courage to dare 
The Wool Witch who ruled the earth and the air. 

At last, bowed with grief, she came to that spot 
Where abode the one from Nature begot, 



ADVENT OF SASANOA 

And dared, even there, to go on alone 

Where strewed was the ground with volcanic stone, 

And the quake-sick earth had thrown up a pile 

Of cind'rous lava and fire-mangled bile : 

To the crater's mouth, she even drew nigh 

Whence sulphurous smoke curled up to the sky, 

And e'en dared the fumes of that vent of death, 

And called down its flue till choked was her breath — 

" Great Witch of the sea, the river and bay, 

Give back Arrowsic — my loved one, I pray ! " 

Big was the silence which then clung around 

The one intently awaiting a sound : 

Blacker grew darkness, until seemed it night, 

Was demons of death, concentrating might. 

Though calm were her nerves, her eyes filled with tears, 

And hope changed to doubt which gave birth to fears ; 

Then faith, which had been so buoyantly strong, 

To despair gave place, when she cried, " How long ! 

Witch of whirlwinds, thou mentor of fate ! 

How long ! Oh ! how long must I pleading wait ? 

Trophies are many in thy vale of graves, 

Please spare me just one — my bravest of braves ! " 

While lingered the sorrowful maiden there 
Amid that blackness of sulphurous air, 



SASANOA AND THE WOOL WITCH 

Faintly at first, in a whisper of song, 
Then clearer rising, each measure more strong, 
As sing those alone to whom joy is born 
When cast they aside the sackcloth they 've worn, 
Came from the river or rang from the bay, 
From whence, she knew not, but echoed the lay, 
" In joy shall thy heart respond to the calls 
Of Arrowsic, brave, in that trysting place 
Where Penobscot roars over Oldtown falls 
And swings his eddies through Orono race." 



As solace from Heav'n sung sweetly to earth, 
Were those words of cheer to the weeping maid, 
And, as do mothers, who wake to new birth, 
When first in their arms the new-born is laid, 
So smiled the princess, who in joy replied, 
" Hasten Great Spirit ! Oh ! send him to me ! 
Swing open the gates where thou dost abide — 
Thou, the mighty one, who rules earth and sea ! " 
Answered her only that quivering throb 
Upsent with the smoke, a fluttering sob 
Swung through the nerves of the cavernous ground, 
Which cringed with the pain of an earthquake wound, 
But, grandly the moon swept up through the clouds 
Which o'er her had hung like fluttering shrouds. 



ADVENT OF SASANOA 

Then sped she away down the rocky path 
Blithely as if to a love tryst she hied, 
Fearing no longer great Hockamock's wrath 
Or Gurnay the Witch who ruled at his side. 

As sometimes grows strong among noxious weeds 
A flow'r of sweetness, with no kindred there, 
Which freely scatters its pollen and seeds 
Till with its perfume is fragrant the air, 
Thus grew the maiden with eloquent eyes, 
Among the people unto whom she came 
As strangely, in truth, as light from the skies, 
Though princess she was to a chief of fame. 

While sang she that night, yea, e'en while she prayed, 

Jealous ones watched her, as children afraid : 

Where the intensest shadows were woven, 

Crept they as softly as autumn leaves fall, 

Slyly they flitted in paths deep sunken, 

Till, where the crater thrust up a great wall, 

They, the revengeful, fell on the maiden — 

Fell on her quickly — where the tide's burden 

Roared in the offing and beat on the shore 

While they, o'er the bay, their fair pris'ner bore. 



BIRTH OF THE RANGER 

WHERE day wove with night in a tangled maze, 
And a mesh was spun so wild, and so weird, 
That nothing was seen but jangle of ways, 
And flittering forms which wriggled and leered, 
Woke a youth from sleep which dreamful had been, 
How long, he knew not, but in it was seen 
A being who from the maze of ways sprang 
Close to his pillow, and crooningly sang — 
" Up from the east land where Katahdin sends, 
Over a river whose age is untold, 
To meadows and fields and wave-hidden friends 
A wealth of water more precious than gold, 
Came a youthful chief, defiant and strong, 
Proudly conceited that his knife could kill 
Mighty Hockamock, and revenge the wrong 
Done by Witch Gurnay, the Great Spirit's will. 

" Great was his courage and mighty his arm ; 
Keen were his glances, unerring his aim, 
And possessed was he of that mental charm 
Which into his blood from Israel came, 
Yet a child was he with a crooked eye 
When came he into this grave of a race, 



BIRTH OF THE RANGER 

And, but for Gurnay, he would now lie 

Where Hockamock flings his flame-breath to space." 

Strange was the being who deftly entwined 

Her woof serpentine with warp of his mind : 

Upon her strong hands so veinous and red, 

Black bunches of wool like a sheep's fleece lay, 

Big was her torso, and massive her head 

Where was a tangle of black hair with grey : 

Her eyes gleamed fiercely 'neath brows like a cowl, 

And her big, curved nose with its nostrils deep — 

Its nostrils which throbbed like a tiger's jowl — 

Were kin with her teeth which seemed then to creep 

'Neath her bulbous lips very slyly down, 

And press the grinders with crown unto crown, 

As if in training for banquets where blood 

Alone could appease her murderous mood. 

Her dress was of skins stripped whole from the sheep, 

A tunic which hung from neck unto feet ; 

Trim ? surely it was, and belted, to keep, 

Because of her sex, her waist outline neat : 

But the dangling heads of lambs, which were tied 

To the belt of gut, which circled her waist, 

Jangling each other, hideously vied 

To pattern themselves to her horrid taste. 



SASANOA AND THE WOOL WITCH 

As if proud that she her image impressed 

But for a moment on his waning mind, 

She very coyly her back hair caressed — 

As is the habit of all womankind — 

Then, with a snarling, a growling " Ho ! ho ! " 

She said while she danced, and skipping, bowed low, 

" Though keen be your eyes, you will not behold 

The life-giving force and spirit of man, 

Till I, the mystic, shall to you unfold, 

The star of his soul wherein he began." 



Like a stately princess posing, 

Was this mystic, witchly being ; 

Head uplifted, chin protuded, 

While before her prey she strutted : 

But her moods were very changeful, 

Swiftly shifting, gruesome, awful ; 

Soon she sang in woeful droning, 

Like a grieved one, sadly moaning, 

" Dark are thy waters, great oceans of grief, 

And fierce the tempests which over thee roll 

While thou art reaping thy never-filled sheaf 

Of pains from man's heart and tears from his soul. 

Yet, never departs the sun from man's sky, 

For Love holds her star refulgent on high, 

12 



BIRTH OF THE RANGER 

Hope gathers her lights to illumine his way, 
And Faith leads him on into endless day." 

Then with prancing, her wild dancing 
Swayed the Wool Witch, wildly singing, 
" Ho ! ho ! I 'm Gurnay, the Witch supreme, 
A creature of blood, born in a dream, 
A saint or sinner, as fate decrees, 
But always myself, whose keen eye sees 
Man in his blindness, seeking to find 
Excuse for having an infant mind. 
Gather your arrows, awake ! be brave ! 
Re-string your hornbeam to its fullest strain 
And lead all my foes unto that grave 
Where great Ben Andrew so long has lain." 

Speechless lay the youth before the being, 
As man oft crouches in meshes of dreams, 
For then were her eyes such glances thrusting, 
Such fires emitting, and wavering gleams 
Swung round and around her vibrating hands 
That to her he swayed as runneth the sands 
With retreating waves, where the undertow 
Flings surf upon surf while they inward flow. 

Bewildered, he said, " My mistress thou art 
Of mind, of muscle, of spirit and heart ; 



J 3 



SASANOA AND THE WOOL WITCH 

Though squaw thing you be, I '11 now follow you 
As flies my arrow, which always goes true." 

Snapping her fingers, tit-tat on his hair, 
Crouched she before him the better to stare 
With her compressed eyes into his downcast, 
And into them fling the vibrating blast 
From her brain's compound of red cells and grey 
Which his unit man was sweeping away. 

Content with her work, she said, "You are free 
To move with the moon, the stars and the earth, 
But will continue a servant to me 
Till cometh the day of that river's birth 
Which, swinging along on its tide-marked way, 
Will swirlingly sing by night and by day, 
'All glory to God whose life's currents flow 
Where joy is supreme, where grief is, or woe.' 

" Fiercely through Hell Gate that river will roar, 
But dance to the time of its roundelay 
When scattering o'er its peaceful green shore 
The ozone of brine and dews from its spray ; 
Whatever its tone 't will echo along 
To forests and leas and Hockamock bay, 
The voice of a soul which a holy song 
Brought to your people from lands far away. 

14 



BIRTH OF THE RANGER 

" You are in love, and conceive it to be 
A journey through bliss on a summer sea, 
But, woman whose heart is christened with love, 
Be she fallen from grace as viewed by man, 
Or as pure in soul as the Holy Dove, 
To that one clingeth where her love began, 
And loves with blindness which only can see 
The God-part of man, which, ever will be 
The Hope, Joy and Faith, yea, all of her life, 
Be she queen of queens, the home-making wife, 
The changeling who flirts with love as a play, 
Or of those sad ones, who joy of life lay 
With lost love away, enshrined in their soul, 
And move on alone until time shall roll 
Out of earth's darkness where Heavenly light 
Will be all of day and day will be night. 

" Whatever to man the sea of life brings, 
Woman who loves him, around his soul clings ; 
She raises the brute into God-like man 
Where was his station when his life began, 
For woman whom love has imbued with grace 
Ever lives upward towards God's holy place. 

" Impress my teachings in your heart and mind, 
And through your children, repeat them to men 

i5 



SASANOA AND THE WOOL WITCH 

Who, wise in conceit, but mentally blind, 

Will scoff at Gurnay, the Witch of the Glen, 

For, though scientists measure earth and sky, 

Constrained will they be by a book-trained eye, 

Man will they measure by their weak standard, 

And God by the scope of college learning, 

For all their wisdom will centre selfward 

Where they all the world are daily guiding. 

As children reading the Bible's teaching 

Dimly through lenses ground down to fit creeds, 

They will fail to see churches are sinning 

When weighing man's soul by the gold from his deeds. 

With the curse of war will they civilize, 

Asking God to hold the guns in their hands, 

And deeply in prayer will they moralize 

While with blood they stain their Christianized lands. 

" While posing as saints, they will scatter seeds 
From which will spring up a new crop of greeds, 
And these will again grow fruitful in isms, 
Factions and unions, corrosions of wealth, 
Great sheaves of distrust and muck-raking schisms, 
Dishonor, lewdness, and murders by stealth." 

Goddess of vengeance, for a space seemed she, 
Prophetess, preacher, transcendently strong ; 

16 



BIRTH OF THE RANGER 

Then but an oof-one carousing in glee, 
Merrily singing a carnival song — 
" O braves and buckies, now trip the light toe, 
Old squaws and maidens, skip high and bow low ; 
I 'm Wool Witch Gurnay, born queen of the earth, 
Imp in my old age, a fairy at birth ; 
Dance you ! my Ranger, and open your eye 
Watch out, Arrowsic, for Sasanoa's cry." 



17 



RESCUE OF SASANOA 

WHY death was her mead, the maid did not know, 
Yet the chanters who round her wigwam came 
With their moaning drone and tom-tomming woe, 
In the death song's warp were weaving her name. 
Dejected she gazed on the scene below 
The tangled forests, the deep vale of green, 
And waves which rippled in the sun's bright glow 
Till tide and sunlight wove a silver sheen. 
Why must she leave the home of her childhood, 
The river so grand with deep pools and falls, 
The birds which sang to her in the wildwood 
And brave Arrowsic whose heart heard her calls ? 

In her was music, as its voice belongs 
To the bird who 's born with a glory of songs 
In a nest which rocks with the rhythmic sway 
Which winds are bringing from Nature's grand lay. 
Her soul was reaching the great heart above, 
The God of mercy, forgiveness and love, 
Though of His blessings she had not been told, 
Nor the way been shown which leads to the fold 
Wherein are treasures the simplest may find, 
Though dumb may he be, yea, even if blind. 



RESCUE OF SASANOA 

The booming tom-tom, and the measured beat 

Of the scuffing tramp, of the chanters' feet, 

The swing of the hymn, and the moaning cry 

Of the squaws around the suspected spy, 

Throbbed — throbbed in the air, while drowsiness crept 

Each moment more strong its somnolent way, 

Till, lulled by the drone, she peacefully slept 

While the imps of death danced around their prey. 

Mosata, great chief, whose ancestral home 
Was all the domain, from Kineo down 
To voiceless Seguin, where Kennebec's foam 
Like pearls interwove upon Neptune's crown ; 
Who eastward could hear the thunderous din 
On his bulwark isles in Penobscot bay, 
And westward, the waves by Casco flung in 
To define the bounds where rivals must stay, 
This chieftain who knew no bodily fear, 
Who could not measure the price of a tear, 
Whose measure of right was life for a life, 
Whose equity court was blood — blood and strife, 
Declared the princess was Hockamock's eye, 
The bad spirit's child and Witch Gurnay's spy. 

The med'cines also, the maid's doom had sealed, 
For she who defied the volcano's wrath 



*9 



SASANOA AND THE WOOL WITCH 

And the Witch whose smile was lightning congealed, 
Who safely passed o'er the quivering path 
Where, caught in the arms of sinuous sands 
The red men had died by ones and by bands, 
No other could be than child of the fiend 
Who over the land his bloody sheaves gleaned. 

With war paint adorned, and full armed for strife, 

Gathered the tribesmen, believing the life 

That night to pass out at the burning stake 

Would the evil spell of Hockamock break. 

Drunken with frenzy, in a bedlam dance 

Swayed they and leaped they, joined hand unto hand ; 

A chattering mass, with one vengeful glance 

Watching their victims, who, the med'cine band, 

With their cultsome glee, and mystical airs, 

Bound to the death-stake, while tom-tomming prayers. 

No Witch feared they then, those demented braves, 

Nor e'en the spirit of the moss-hid graves ; 

One demon they were whose sardonic cry 

Was, " Death to the Witch ! the princess must die ! " 

To the stake they danced, and skipped back again, 

A sinuous mass, a nauseous chain : 

Mosata — ha ! ha ! no fiercer than he 

Had the red men known, or ever could be ! 



RESCUE OF SASANOA 

But, fog from the sea, or mists from the shore 
Not sooner have gone when touched by the sun, 
Than withered their pith like a dried pine spore 
When into their midst came the Awful One. 

Not Witch alone, or human then, 
Was she who cowed the raving men : 
She crushed the fire and flung around 
Brands among them upon the ground : 
Her hair fell down, a waving mass 
Like tangled moss and withered grass, 
Till, swept it round her like a gown, 
This nature's dress so wildly grown : 
No other robe this being wore 
Than a black fleece, a woolly store 
Of fleshings which her trunk concealed 
While all her grace was full revealed. 

Not a man spake then, nor the chief so great ; 
Their senses were stilled by the Witch of Fate, 
Who, deeper drove in the dagger of fear, 
While compelled they were, to crouching draw near 
By her twanging nerves, and her scornful cries 
When called she aloud, "A Wool Witch ne'er dies ! 
But you, denatured, who rush after hopes 
As into darkness a sightless man gropes, 



SASANOA AND THE WOOL WITCH 

Are only senseless half monkey-men things 

Who go to your graves from self-imposed stings. 

You are brave as skunks who crawl in the night 

And hole when only an owlet takes flight, 

But, hope on, ye braves, with the courage which saves, 

Till I roast you all in my moss-hid graves. 

Watch ye the heavens and behold me hem 

The tattering clouds with a lightning gem ! 

Hear my voice rush out from Hockamock's caves, 

And behold my breath fling foam o'er the waves ! " 

The natives, there chained by animal awe 
Which higher man checks with the spirit law 
Each year more complete, as we have been trained 
To breed the stronger and higher brained, 
More like their forebears, who chattered and slid, 
Than braves, in groupings then tremblingly hid, 
While swung through the air those atoms which catch 
The nerves of the spheres, and thunder imps hatch. 

In the sky's high dome the moon's light was clear ; 
So still was the air, that seemed very near 
The swirling alarm which Kennebec's tide 
Sent back from the race at Isle Spirit Bride. 
But soon a mutter, and a rumbling jar, 
The quietude broke, as if a great car 



RESCUE OF SASANOA 

On eccentrics rolled, was drawn quickly where 

A corduroy road was built through the air : 

Then, onward rushing o'er Newmeadows glen 

Came tangled-up clouds like gathering men ; 

Swept in from the north a host closely ranked, 

While eastward and south, great thunder-chains clanked, 

And seething along with split tongues of flame 

Pickets of lightning revengefully came, 

And where these darts zipped, the air hurtled in 

With a banging crash and resounding din ; 

The earth and the sky with the waves seemed blent 

By the awful force which Nature then sent. 

Great cohorts of rain rushed up from the sea, 

From Moosehead hurried batallions of clouds 

Which rammed the nimbi in Hockamock's lea 

And hung o'er the earth like pallings of shrouds. 

Confounding terror en wrapt the red men, 

Who huddled closely among themselves, 

Fearing each moment the Witch of the Glen 

Would sweep them away with her fiery elves. 



When her great canoe with its serpent head, 

Its birch-scaled body of glittering red, 

Sped where the lightning its pathway illumed 

O'er waves which eddied, and swish-swashing fumed, 



2 3 



SASANOA AND THE WOOL WITCH 

The med'cines shouted, " She ruleth our fate 
And our lives will hold, till the tempests wait 
When cometh to us the Ranger of men 
Who alone can rule the Witch of the Glen." 



24 



SPIRIT RANGER 

TWO suns had drawn up from river and sea 
The water of life for mountain and lea, 
When Hell Gate was capped with sulphurous smoke 
And all the craters into full life woke. 
While safe at Whizgig, Chief Mosata stood 
Among his people, whose wonder-filled eyes 
Saw flames leaping out from the crater's hood 
Of many-hued smoke which rolled to the skies. 
A stalwart young brave, for such, it then seemed, 
Was the one who came whence the gas-darts gleamed, 
Strode up from the shore, with a sang-froid air, 
Yet, primly as one who self guards with care, 
And, tapping the chief with his hornbeam bow, 
Proclaimed, with a yawn, " It 's hot, down below, 
Where Gurnay 's boiling her sulphurous broth 
Whereon is bubbling a lavaous froth, 
So, I, the Ranger, have come up to you 
For help to conquer her villainous crew." 

A red man transformed, surely was the brave 
Who Ranger was called by men of his race : 
His stringy black hair was crimped to a wave, 
And niggery black were his hands and face. 

25 



SASANOA AND THE WOOL WITCH 

Around eyes and mouth were ringings of white, 
And his yellow nose was a direful sight, 
His body was cased in seal skins so snug, 
That he looked like man turned into a bug ; 
From the view point of his hairy garb ; 
But he stepped as light as a Spanish barb. 

Mosata was brave, like men of his kind 

Wherein is muscle far greater than mind, 

But, brain against brain of an astute man 

He 'd be like a fish in a frying-pan ; 

Yet, a chief he was, and answered the youth 

As if to a squaw or a serf he spake, 

" You may be Ranger, and your words be truth, 

If so, now bid you a tempest awake, 

Next, drive back the flames to Hockamock's mouth 

And bring us a breeze from the soft-voiced south." 

As if from dreams he then awoke, 
The Ranger gazed upon the chief, 
Unstrung his bow, and slowly spoke, 
" You fear the Witch as squaws fear grief, 
You 're like a child who shrieks and moans 
When adders glide among the stones, 
And whines for Ma ! in abject fear 
When, in the day, a bat comes near." 

26 



SPIRIT RANGER 

" 'T is best that your keen, slitted tongue 
Its noise hold back, until you show 
That true your praise by men is sung," 
The chief replied, with anger's glow ! 

"A slit tongue is a twisting thing 

Which gives to man a painful sting ; 

Not so would I your minds assail 

Or for you weave a fairy tale ; 

All I will say is clearly shown 

By singing birds and voiceless stone ; 

For all I say, or seem to do, 

The God has said and done for you, 

Thus, if you choose to follow me 

You '11 go as men who think and see." 

" Ugh ! " said the chief, " we are not blind, 
Awake ! and prove your Ranger mind : 
If false you are, quick shall you know 
Our aim is true, and sure our blow." 

O'er the land then swept a revolving cloud 
Of belcherous smoke like a mighty shroud, 
And amid the gloom, as if through a pall, 
The sun dimly shone like a bloody ball. 



27 



SASANOA AND THE WOOL WITCH 

Then, those half-humans, whom no one could trust, 
A circle of knives at the Ranger thrust, 
And fierce were the gleams of their monkey eyes 
While the pall of smoke spread over the skies. 
Then, a yapping squall ripped over the waves, 
Rain deluged the land, like surf from the seas, 
While lava, flung up from volcanic caves, 
Around the group crashed among burning trees. 

The squall swung round until the draft 

From southward came, and there it stood 

A steady breeze, which down the shaft 

Of Hockamock a steady flood 

Of mist-rain poured, and all around 

It drenched the rocks and smoking ground. 

So, nature's laws worked surely on 
Until the rain a vict'ry won, 
Then, warmer came the southern air, 
Till, soon, O joy ! the sky was fair ; 
Gone were the smoke and red-hot rock ; 
Those preludes of an earthquake shock ; 
And for a space, the travailed earth 
Quiescent was before a birth. 

Then sprang they back, those men who saw 
As children do, the scene with awe ; 

28 



SPIRIT RANGER 

With one accord those clutching hands 
Which knives thrust at the Ranger's heart, 
Relaxed as if electric bands 
Unlocked had been by one quick dart ; 
Then, crouching down, they blankly stared 
At him who had the Wool Witch dared. 

The Ranger soon, with smiles declared — 
While touched they him as if they dared 
Some awful fate by drawing nigh 
A being who controlled the sky : — 
" Be not deceived, 't is God who rules 
All nature's acts, and such poor fools 
As men like me, who simply play 
The hypnot part, which for a day, 
Or more, perchance, into their kind 
Is grafted by a stronger mind." 

The more he said, the more they saw 
That he enforced a mighty law, 
And loud cried they, " Lead to the graves ! 
Lead on I lead on ! we are your braves ! " 

" If fools you '11 be, then wear these cones, 
These nerves of life from giant pines ; 
But, bear in mind that your death moans, 
The coward's tears, the sneaker's whines, 



29 



SASANOA AND THE WOOL WITCH 

Which in the vale will soon be heard 
Will be no more than is a word 
Which winds catch up or waves bear out, 
When comes the end, the awful rout. 

" With these cones badged, to-morrow come 

Where stands the tree near Gurnay's home ; 

The blasted pine, you know the place, 

You men who will the crater face : 

Come bravely there when night's shades fall, 

And there await the Ranger's call ; 

Meanwhile reflect that seeds which grow 

While you deny Jehovah's name, 

To man must bring great sheaves of woe 

Though great his strength and proud his fame." 

Then those men all skipped around, 
Swung their knives, and flung their bows, 
Yelling with a frightful sound : 
" You 're the one who all things knows ! 
Lead us where our knives may slash 
Those who make the hot rocks crash ! 
Where we '11 hang our belts with hair 
From the Witch who rules the air." 

Swift from the reach, with swelling sail 
On single mast, to which the gale 



3o 



SPIRIT RANGER 

Its full force gave, as low it bent 
And then sprang back, a canoe rent 
The long waves' crests, and leaped among 
Them light and free as gull e'er swung. 
A long, high bark, with in-turned bow, 
A broad-beamed bark, which could allow 
The waves to beat upon its sides 
Of hornbeam ribs, and fine, seal hides, 
And have no fear, when at its oar 
Witch Gurnay stood ; a bark which bore 
No kinship with the things of birch 
Which in the race would twist and lurch ; 
A vessel built upon the lines 
Feluccas have ; a keel which twines 
Among the waves, a stem which cleaves 
The stubborn tide and clean wake leaves 
Along the bilge ; the raking mast, 
And yard which bends, until the blast 
Is conquered by a flattened sheet 
And passing on, yells back, " I 'm beat ! " 
The vanquished wind. Such was the bark 
Which swept the beach, and standing stark 
At its great oar — but for her hair 
And trunks of wool — with queenly air 
Witch Gurnay was. She luffed sharp in 
The chortling wind, and while the din 



3i 



SASANOA AND THE WOOL WITCH 

Of slatting sail her sharp words drowned, 
And mystified, the men drawn round, 
The Ranger sprang quick to her side 
And shoved the bark out in the tide. 



3 2 



VALLEY OF GRAVES 

4 4 f\ ETHER sea whose shores are unknown space ! 

V-X Who holds thee where thou seem but self-sustained ? 
O worlds uncounted, keeping each your place ! 
What master mind thy constant way ordained 
Through ages true to minute, day and hour, 
And gives to each the sure, attracting pow'r 
Which binds, as one, the whole, while yet you 're free 
In all your ways, as Nature's atoms be ? 
While rushing on blindly for wealth and fame, 
Man gives no heed to the transcendent name, 
Yet, writ on the flowers, the fruits and the trees 
Roared by the whirlwind, and sighed in the breeze, 
Chimed by the worlds in their minutes and days, 
Echoed by billows and lettered in sprays, 
Hear we forever — God — the Omniscient — 
Jehovah — Jehovah — King of Mercy — 
God — the Father, with grace ever-present — 
Christ, the world's Saviour — Jesus and Mary. 

" Oft have I seen in downy cumuli, 
In nimbi reaching out their arms for rain, 
In fields and meadows lying stark and dry, 
In withered, prematurely ripened grain, 



33 



SASANOA AND THE WOOL WITCH 

The many sides of Nature's changeful form, 
And, like all these, together with the storm, 
Which beats its way so fiercely o'er the earth, 
And man's ears rend with its resounding noise, 
Flings mem'ry fiercely into me the birth 
Whence came to me my spirit's earthly poise." 

Thus spake the Witch, while with accustomed feet, 
She passed 'mid wreckage, tremendous, complete, 
Which the quaking earth had flung around there 
While hast'ning to give the volcano air ; 
Not alone was she, for with sturdy stride, 
At times in advance, again at her side, 
Went Arrowsic there, as a child might stray 
With a master mind who ordered his way. 

While passed they along where a blue-flame flare 

The blackness dispelled with up-darts of flame 

Flung flickering out by dashes of air, 

Which down the crater from the forest came, 

Arrowsic inquired, as a child might ask 

When trying to solve a difficult task, 

" Where are the forests whose long-laned arches, 

The mighty king pines, near Penobscot wove, 

And cataracts great, where wildly rushes 

The river which sang the birth of my love ? " 



34 



VALLEY OF GRAVES 

With a mighty force, he sought to restrain 

The pow'r compelling the trend of his brain ; 

He turned in the path, and tottering there, 

Shrieked to her, " Wool Witch ! bring back the pure air ! 

Free me ! O free me ! my mind is a maze ! 

My blood is congealed and halts in its ways ! 

My heart is enchained by an icy band 

And my head clamped in by a burning hand ! " 

Gazed she upon him as mother might scan 

The face of a child who in wild ways ran, 

But her glinting eyes threw out such a flame 

Of serpentine blue, and sheen beyond name, 

That he swayed — and swayed — like a sapling, bent 

By a whirling wind which its branches rent. 

Then cried he, in joy, " O mother ! I hear 

Dear Sasanoa singing to me, — me / 

And all my bird friends, whom I love so dear, 

Are calling — calling — ' We 're waiting for thee ! ' " 

Then, calling him on, with only a look, 

She said, " There is much in Nature's great book, 

Which, though strange to man, is as clear to me 

As the fact that now your spirit is free 

From all the restraints which sin has entwined 

Since Adam first thrust deceit on mankind. 



35 



SASANOA AND THE WOOL WITCH 

" I mould you now, as the hand of Nature 

The sea's bowl made, and the mountain peaks reared ; 

Out of the sloth of a monkey creature, 

I raise you where, for a time, you '11 be feared. 

Rare are these things, and to your human eye, 

'T is strange indeed, that for sin must man die ; 

And stranger yet, that power is given 

To me this day, which your will has broken. 

Ask you the winds why they were created, 

Or the eagle whom he last year mated ; 

Ask of the stars from whence comes their light, 

Or bid the sun turn day into night, 

And, as before, will the spheres journey on 

Into vastness of which man cannot know, 

Unless, upraised by the grace of the Son, 

Nearer to God he will live on and grow — 

Grow on — grow up — from the baseness of earth 

And bring forth sons who are pure at their birth. 

"In a distant land my life was begun, 
And strange indeed have its currents run ; 
I 'm many natures converged into one 1 
As lenses focus the rays of the sun." 

Then as a priestess, revealing the way, 
Became the Wool Witch, the being changeful, 

36 



VALLEY OF GRAVES 

So mightily strong in her mental sway, 
Electrically, vitally awful. 

"Behold," said she, "what I have writ 
Where buried are the braves, 
Whom I have roasted on the spit 
Beneath the vale of graves ; 
When white men come, they '11 say that I 
Was but a red man's dream, 
But then will my great spirit fly 
Above life's troubled stream. 

" Mark you, sure mark you, great Ranger of life, 
I '11 be immortal, while their tangled threads 
Are weaving on looms whose power is strife 
Begun by students, who believe their heads 
The sole key contain to that perfect plan, 
Created by God when this world began. 

" Bah ! bah! to those fools ! Come boldly with me 
Where life and chaos will around us meet ; 
We now are one mind, and your eyes shall see 
My home, my glory, and my father greet. 
This place I 've adorned, in rare taste, ha ! ha ! 
With relics of life which great treasures are ; 
Here roameth Gurnay rebellious and free, 
And all these trophies are precious to me. 



37 



SASANOA AND THE WOOL WITCH 

" Behold those females whom I have embalmed 
With their mummied babes embracing their breasts ! 
Those chiefs so wrathful, intensely alarmed — 
But bones — only bones — where the vampire nests.' 

Scarce seemeth it true that man can believe 

A human mind would such horrors conceive, 

As there were enwrought out of red men's bones, 

And bodies desuete, responsive to spells 

By which man keeps them, until he atones 

For the worship of self, which in all men dwells ; 

By seeing mankind, decaying, unclean, 

A mummied carcass decrepit and lean — 

An accursing thing, an unholy shape — 

From bequeathing which, all fair men should rape 

By enforcing laws that cadavers be burned 

And earth unto earth as ashes be turned. 

Yet, there was warrant that a holy love, 
Where vengeance abides, may potently live, 
Though strange the methods by which it will prove, 
That true love given, will love ever give. 

Where thick strewn around were remnants of those 
Who means for vengeance so childishly chose, 
Those men who knew not the natural cause 



38 



VALLEY OF GRAVES 

For what they believed were Hockamock's laws, 

A tomb was builded, or, as such it seemed 

To the spell-bound child, who saw, or else dreamed 

He never knew which — the great cave of night 

Illumed by flarings of reddish-blue light, 

Before which with him, the Wool Witch bowed low, 

And shrilly chanted a wailing of prayer 

In words only those from Egypt could know, 

But all-absorbing to the woman there 

Who, clasping both hands of the man she led, 

Bade him be silent, and devoutly said : 

"Before this grand king of an ancient race, 

Your penance begin, and your sins confess, 

For, around this tomb is a holy place 

Where no worldly thoughts shall your mind express. 

" O tombs so silent ! ye homes where the dead 

Senselessly wait for Jehovah's calls ! 

O mansions of grief ! wherein but a bed 

The wealth of earth unto man recalls ! 

How voiceless ye be, but if you could tell 

All ye have known of devotion pure, 

And the tales of grief, which in you will dwell 

Till Nature works her refining cure, 

Then would be proven true love is supreme — 

Maker of life, yea, all life complete — 



39 



SASANOA AND THE WOOL WITCH 

Not as weak man says, a dreamer's wild dream 
Where hates with it forever compete. 

" Look ! red man transformed, my own mind in chains, 

While for a moment I release my spell ; 

Behold the tomb-throne which my sire contains, 

Yea, all there is here, that children may tell 

How I, the Wool Witch, the hated Gurnay, 

Not a murdjess was, but life took for life 

In holy vengeance, until I could slay 

All, and their offsprings, who in unfair strife 

My wise father slew, who prayed them to save 

Their souls from that home, which the devil gave, 

So rich with its sins, so mighty in woes, 

To those who believed their sins could disclose 

A region, which like God's Eden would be, 

Abounding in joy, with wealth ever free." 

While pursued the youth's brain its no'rmal way, 

For a brief space he saw, yet clearly then, 

As if in that cavern he sleeping lay, 

A being who living, was king 'mong men, 

As surely was it true, that the one sun 

The world's life force had been, since it begun 

The flowers to nurture, or rain command, 

That life in all beauty reign o'er the land. 



40 



VALLEY OF GRAVES 

Entombed there for ages ? he could not know, 
Whose science was measured by knife and bow, 
Nor, awaking amid those scenes so weird — 
Which, as lightning passes, to him appeared — 
Could he in confusion, do more than stare 
At the mummy living, or Gurnay dead, 
The dead man silently sleeping there, 
Or the Witch who sternly unto him said, 
" Behold great Ben Andrew, sire of my race, 
A withering mummy, but yet a king, 
Whose spirit, so noble, shines in the face 
Of the princess you love, whose heart will sing 
The praises of Gurnay, your truest friend, 
To thee and thy children till life shall end." 

That tears could have place in her glinting eyes, 

Not those would believe, who had seen their light 

When, as the lion a hunter defies, 

She challenged her foes and rushed to the fight ; 

Yet, in them were tears, and her face expressed 

Grief as consuming as man e'er confessed, 

When, kissing his cheek, his lips and his brow, 

She said, " Arrowsic, now honored art thou, 

For no other eyes shall see my great king, 

To whom, as trophies, the red men you '11 bring. 

His was the mercy which heareth all cries, 



4i 



SASANOA AND THE WOOL WITCH 

But I am vengence, which all foes defies ; 
I am fed upon fire, and will burn with hate 
Until his foes' blood my furies abate. 

" 'T is true, that Christians should abound in love, 
Yet, it seems to me, a fluttering dove 
Would fail to control these red men, whose brains 
Are all white matter and blood-spattered stains." 

With a swirling shift, her weird mental tone 
Changed in a moment, as sweeps a cyclone. 
" Sing ! Sing ! " she exclaimed, " that my sire may hear 
The voice of man's soul, once more, at his bier." 

For a moment he stood with head bowed low, 
As if he was seeking what he should know ; 
His body was swaying, with rythmic beat 
By his fingers measured, also his feet, 
Until, as a baton measures the time, 
His right arm was beating slowly a rhyme, 
Then the soul of music beamed from his eyes 
And he sang as the harp whispers and sighs — 
" O ages of time ! 
The great life sublime, 
Born with the first-risen sun, 



42 



VALLEY OF GRAVES 

O birth of a soul ! 

When grand anthems roll 

Because a pure life's begun, 

O man, sinful man ! 

Thy life's but a span 

Resting on cradle and bier, 

But God's holy light 

Will guide thee aright 

If to Christ your heart draws near." 

" Doves coo in peace, where the panther's cry 
Would war's light bring to the red man's eye ; 
Thou art my own, and have sung for me 
The holy words my brain sent to thee." 

So said the Witch, as a mother, in joy 

Praises the deeds of a dutiful boy ; 

Then sadly sang, while pursuing her way 

Where human bones marked the wreck of her prey, 

And beating time with a mummified arm 

As med'cines swing their revolting scalp charm, 

" Life is but a deep-tide river 

Faster flowing day by day, 

Men forever fight against it, 

But are sure to be its prey. 



43 



SASANOA AND THE WOOL. WITCH 

" Souls are blackened, hearts are saddened 
By the conflict with the tides, 
Though man's journey should be gladdened 
In fair havens on its sides." 

Then danced she around, as ballets fling high 

And sang while swinging a skull and a thigh, 

"Gurnay is a mystery, 

Hi! hi! hi! 

Mighty in her hypnoty, 

Ho! ho! ho! 

" She leads the braves to wander 
In the glen, 

And quickly drags her plunder 
To her den." 

How long, he knew not, but for years, it seemed, 
He passed 'mong caverns and long aisles of caves, 
Where gaseous fires at times flaring gleamed, 
And banged the echoes of thundering waves. 

Beneath Kennebec, went their winding way 
Through a tunnel deep, which led from the sea, 
Then they went northward, where river and bay 
Joined round the crater through which he went free. 



44 



SASANOA'S JOURNEY 

PERCHANCE the princess dreamed of a river 
O'er rapids dashing its foaming water, 
Or among meadows, strong, silent and deep, 
Mightily flowing, its sure way to keep, 
While Arrowsic told that songful story, 
Which, by repeating, has more witching grown, 
Because ev'ry page, contains new glory 
To lovers revealed, and their mates alone ; 
Or heard she bird friends discussing the fates 
Which lovers all know will come to their mates, 
For sweetly she smiled, while sleeping, alone, 
Lulled by the music in the river's tone. 

The tumult and shouting, the one who came 
And scattered the red men, no less the flame 
Which scorching crept near her, when at the stake 
She seemed to be sleeping ne'er to awake, 
Those were the memories fluttering nigh, 
When, slowing awaking, she saw the sky 
Blue arching above her, and heard a strain 
Of music around her which soothed her brain. 

So soft, like one sighing, so pure and clear, 
Was the music ringing, it must be near — 



45 



SASANOA AND THE WOOL WITCH 

Was near ! was near ! ah ! yes, and it was true, 

Its faintest inflection her heart well knew. 

In vain was her effort to raise the skin, 

Through whose interlacings, the sun peered in ; 

Her limbs were rebellious, and o'er her frame 

A shudder of fever flashed like a flame. 

With nerves all a-quiver, she cuddled in 

The deep-piled, the snuggling, soothing bear skin, 

And sighing with comfort, drowsingly lay 

Till, slowly, the curtains were drawn away. 

Then, all pain forgetting, in joy she said 
To the youth who quickly approached her bed, 
" Beloved ! Arrowsic ! my brave and true ! " 
He bowed before her, as true lovers do, 
Then, raised her gently, as one would caress 
A being, to whom he fain would express 
The all of his love, but that he knew well 
He ought not, would not, his true station tell ; 
But, purpose complete, his spirit obeyed, 
He quickly caught up the one he held dear, 
From the wigwam sped, and never delayed 
Until his canoe from the race swung clear. 

Then, away, away, over the bay, 
Swift up the river, onward he sped, 

46 



SASANOA'S JOURNEY 

And with blade thrust deep flung up the spray, 

But never a word to her he said, 

Till, came they into a narrow bay 

With a sandy shore, and grassy banks 

Which, undulating, restfully lay 

Before giant pines, whose stalwart ranks 

Held back great boulders, grim, beetling down 

In the wreckage torn from Moosehead's crown. 

Then, over his brow deep furrows came, 

While vainly he sought to speak her name ; 

And fierce was the fight within his mind, 

Where, 'mong the tangles, he sought to find 

A clue to lead him out of the dark — 

The horrid maelstrom, where, like a bark 

By tempests rended, he cast about, 

A mental weakling, a soul in doubt — 

Till, fierce throbbing from the swift blood s stream 

His heart was pushing along his veins, 

His expanding eyes beheld the gleam 

Of love confiding, the love which reigns 

Supreme — or withers, within her eyes, — 

The love which gives life, or as hate dies ; 

Then, for a moment, swung loose his brain 

From the chilling pow'r of Gurnay's chain, 

And sang he to her, as man must give 

Voice to emotions which speak to live, 



47 



SASANOA AND THE WOOL WITCH 

" There 's around me a dream of long-buried days, 

When came you to me the spirit of love, 

But now my whole being a power obeys, 

Which tangling forces has around me wove. 

Because she controls them, my lips cannot say 

The words which my heart is sending to you, 

Yet, she, the fierce Wool Witch has taught me to pray 

Unto the Father, who bids men be true. 

From darkness, she bids me look up to the light 

Which God sendeth forth to illume man's mind, 

And tells me of Jesus, who through the dark night, 

With Mary — Mother — gives sight to the blind." 

The tigress in her, then leaped out ; 
That jealous spirit, which is kin 
To hellish forebears, and with doubt, 
Breeds ev'ry goodness into sin. 
She pushed him from her, with the air 
Of one rejecting all things there ; 
She struck him sharply with his bow, 
And fiercely shouted, " Coward ! Go ! 
I love Arrowsic, the grand brave, 
Who in my childhood, his love gave 
In strength and fullness richly rare, 
Not you, the weakling, filled with air 
Pumped in by Gurnay, as a boy 
Blows up a bladder for a toy." 

48 



SASANOA'S JOURNEY 

Fierce was her wrath ; her jealous rage 

No reason held, and would not know 

That Gurnay's hand had turned a page 

Of life, to joy, where had been woe. 

But, came a change, and soon her face 

Was livid white, then ashy grey ; 

She swayed around, and sought to place 

Her trembling feet where they would stay, 

But all her strength was centered where 

A fever burned her vital air ; 

Her breath became a painful gasp — 

Her nerves collapsed — but his strong grasp 

Upheld her sure, until he lay 

Her gently down, where mosses grey 

Were thickly strewn, and leaves piled deep 

As if for her a bed to keep. 

He gazed on her as if he dreamed, 

And while his eyes with wild lights gleamed, 

He cried aloud, as if compelled 

To utter words he would have held, 

"Till to the sea swift tides shall flow 

Where Gurnay holds her awful sway, 

My life must be like weeds which grow 

Where darkest night shuts out the day." 



49 



MISSION OF THE CONE BRAVES 



THE Ranger so stalwart and self-suppressed, 
The stoical chieftain, grimly waiting. 
With his muscles alert, his lips compressed, 
And his venemous eyes fiercely gleaming, 
The teetering tide-rips seaward swishing 
Where the hurrying ebb strength was gaining, 
All this did the watchers behold with awe, 
'T was this taut-nerved picture the people saw 
When, this way, and that way, they fluttered nigh 
The home of the being, whose awful eye 
Each shaft of the moonlight, seemed to be, 
And each shadow peering, so watchfully. 

" See Jehovah's sky and river, 

The moon and stars which He gives light ! 

In them behold," said the Ranger, 

" The All-in-All you wish to fight. 

God rules each man, though red he be, 

As ruleth He the wind and sea, 

And you, no more can stay His hand, 

Than can you make the sky and land." 

5° 



MISSION OF THE CONE BRAVES 

Though plain it was, they wondered why 
The one thus spoke, who, they believed, 
Would lead them with a battle cry 
Where they supposed their dread foe lived, 
They gathered round the blasted tree 
While he spoke on, from anger free — 
"Witch Gurnay says, 'tis passing strange, 
That blindly seeks man to arrange, 
To gratify his own desires, 
But no wood brings for others' fires, 
And have through life the selfish end 
That his knives cut and his bows bend." 

Drawing his bow, strong and pliant, 

Till the arrow dipt the hide, 

Called Mosata, loud, defiant, 

While crowding near the Ranger's side, 

" Lead quickly on or I will fling 

Your carcass on Witch Gurnay's sting ! " 

Though the sharp flint e'en scratched his face, 

The Ranger said, " O foolish race ! 

How calm to you the valley seems, 

As if 't were wrapped in pleasant dreams ! 

Yet, there, for you, awaiteth death — 

Yea, yea, grim death ! an awful death." 



5 1 



SASANOA AND THE WOOL WITCH 

" Whine no more, like a squaw in grief ! 

Lead us on ! " then shouted the chief. 

" Patience is wisdom ! " loud cried the Ranger, 

Whose eloquent eyes glinted with anger ; 

" Delay yet a space, and my will obey ; 

Advance your scouters, mark sure the way ! 

'Mid the flowers here, is odor of death, 

And yonder puffeth the volcano's breath ; 

But, creatures like you, their rights can sustain — 

As animals fight, though not by your brain — 

Mark you the crater ! that tumult of rocks 

Around the deep hole ! Look ! look ! there she mocks 

You, the Witch Gurnay ; behold ! there she stands ; 

The sly, creeping thing ; and the fiery brands 

Which flitter and dart — there ! there ! there again ! 

Her mockeries are, and if you remain 

Base slaves to your fears, and dare not rush in 

To fight the being who murders your kin — 

This Hockamock spy, this one who controls 

The earth when it quakes and the sea when it rolls, 

Then, cursed be your race forever and aye ! — 

On ! on with the fight ! my orders obey ! " 

i 

His words, like fire, ran through the will 

Of those who came resolved to kill, 

And onward rushed the cone-decked braves, 



52 



MISSION OF THE CONE BRAVES 

A surging mob from south and north, 

A seething sea, a crash of waves, 

A surf spumed o'er with human froth. 

Still dreaming there in his weird trance, 

The Ranger stood upon a knoll, 

His eyes fixed in a weary glance 

Which plainly told, of a sad soul 

Bowed down by grief, and filled with woe, 

Because in man there could exist 

Such weakling minds as would not know 

That they could not God's laws resist. 

Came Gurnay then, fiercely scornful, 
Mighty Wool Witch, bold and vengeful, 
Calling loudly, "Awake ! you fool ! 
Not here are you a child at school ! 
Awake and act, for here you '11 find 
Skulking red men, sly things, cunning, 
Slimy adders, round you crawling 
As creepeth fire against the wind." 

Quick changed her mood, and then she cried, 
" What sport it is to see them glide 
Like lobsters to a baited net 
By cunning hands so deftly set 



S3 



SASANOA AND THE WOOL WITCH 

That they believe it is their prey 
Which in the pots so tempting lay ! 
'T is true that all we human fools 
Think others are our poor, weak tools, 
While, truth be told, each other one 
Use us as tools from sun to sun." 



54 



THE ISLAND HOME 

THE grief she knew, when all alone 
Upon the shore, the princess stood, 
Those hearts bow down which must atone 
For wifely joy in widowhood. 
While gazed she on the waters where 
Arrowsic's bark so late had been, 
A squaw bowed low with seeming care, 
Whose eyes great pines as sprouts had seen, 
Whose trembling limbs a staff held up, 
Drew near to her, and sadly said, 
" Oft are the dregs deep in our cup, 
And thorns make hard what seemed a bed 
Of softest fur, for life is made 
By changes man has never stayed. 

" Strange is man's life, thrice strange to you 

Whose soul contains what speaketh true, 

And leadeth you to look askance 

On scalp, on knife, war-whoop and dance. 

To you, fair child, who '11 ne'er be squaw, 

To kill is not a holy law, 

And knave must be, or utter fool 

The man who is Witch Gurnay's tool ; 

55 



SASANOA AND THE WOOL WITCH 

Yet, the wise man discloses sides 
Which woman's wit from all men hides." 

Surprised no more by what she said 

Than that the squaw was at her side, 

Bowed low the maid her throbbing head, 

From all the world her grief to hide — 

Bowed low behind her golden hair 

The face whereon was beauty rare, 

And voiced her grief through words of tears, 

Till she, whose form seemed bowed with years, 

Stole softly up, and with her arm, 

Which then possessed a soothing charm, 

As mother clasps upon her breast 

The baby which thereon finds rest, 

The princess held in tenderness — 

To her heart held with fond caress. 

That form so old, that face so grey, 
With wrinkles deep which of griefs tell, 
Those eyes wherein the shadows lay 
Of long-gone lights on hill and dell, 
All these, the maid then saw and knew, 
Yea, more, she touched with instinct sure 
The mother heart then beating true 
With love which must through life endure. 

56 



THE ISLAND HOME 

Need had she of the gentlest care, 

For fever burned within her veins, 

And soon she raved, in wildness there 

For those things sought by distraught brains. 

In visions she followed the winding ways 

Where man wildly wanders when mem'ry strays, 

Whipped on by the fever, and knew not who 

The taint of the marshes from her blood drew. 

Perchance the deep bayou, mountains and vales, 

Like herself so lonely, hidden deep, 

Or the thoughts which awake, when Nature's scales 

With dangerous swayings, their balance keep, 

Within her soul aroused a dormant strain 

Deep hidden for ages where last it sung, 

As anthems are wafted, 'mid showers of rain ; 

While around and around her spirit swung 

In a far-away sphere, seeking to blend 

Her life with the spirits whose joys ne'er end. 

Thus her body and mind grew back to health ; 
While spring with summer its way interwove 
And scattered around her the boundless wealth 
Of the mountain, river, and cedar grove. 
When first she awakened with mind all clear, 
And knew that the stranger with her was near 

57 



SASANOA AND THE WOOL WITCH 

While her spirit wandered in paths of pain, 

And hers was the bosom whereon 1 she 'd lain, 

All the thanks which her heart by words could prove, 

To the squaw she rendered, tender with love. 

"As is lightning with thunder twined, 
Thus were your nerves rending your mind 
When the sure fates brought you to me 
As wounded deer to home-yards flee." 
'T was thus the squaw, responsive said, 
And muttered on ; while to the shore 
She led the maid, and there her head 
And body bathed in Nature's store 
Of waters sweet, of waters deep 
Which all of life in their grasp keep ; 
" Now sings your heart its grandest song, 
And leaps your blood in currents strong, 
For tree and lake, with bounty free, 
Their stores of strength have given thee." 

Answered the princess in tones which revealed 

A wish, which her heart would then have concealed, 

" Sweet soundeth your voice, and gladly I hear 

What cometh to me from one I hold dear, 

But, friend so loyal, faithful and kind, 

Have we — been alone ? Has no friend — of thine 

Been here to assist — no kindred of mine?" 



58 



THE ISLAND HOME 

She smiled — this squaw, whose tones expressed 
Not once, the thought the maid confessed ; 
While her wan form she strength then gave 
By dipping her beneath the wave ; 
" When man 's alone, 't is truly said, 
He's least alone, for then draw near 
The ones who all his thoughts have read, 
The friends of youth, and loved ones dear." 
She leaned upon her long, black staff, 
And sadly spake, while with a laugh 
The maid splashed on the shelving shore, 
Where o'er her dashed the ozone store, 
" My eyes once saw love's constant light, 
And on I went, secure and strong, 
Though fierce the storm or dark the night, 
With my heart rich in love and song, 
But, from my side, my loved one strayed, 
And though I wept, besought and prayed, 
Dark was my path for many years 
Till came your soul in garb of tears." 

She flung up spray with her big hands, 
And circles drew upon the sands, 
Then blithely said, " No bucks drew near 
When death peered in and scattered fear, 
Yet, came a brave, whose piercing eye 



59 



SASANOA AND THE WOOL WITCH 

Would all the imps of death defy ; 

Speed you away, my child so dear, 

To him whose soul is ever near, 

Speed quickly down where lives the Witch 

Who hangs men's bones in her deep ditch, 

Who shouts in glee when red men die, 

Who rules the earth, the sea and sky." 

Aloud the maid in terror cried, 
While springing from the old squaw's side, 
"And you ! who claim your love is true ! 
'T is thus you bid a loved one do ! 
Can you uphold, by e'en a thought, 
The evil Witch, who grief has brought ? 
The one who stole my brave from me, 
The awful thing, the bloody she?" 

Then spake the squaw, as if in pain, 

" The wounded deer, who long has lain 

Where wolves have fought for her heart's blood, 

Will kiss the hand which killed the brood, 

And never spurns the friend who kept 

The vultures off, while deep she slept. 

The lake is here, there 's the river 

And the mountain wound round with rain, 

There the ocean rolls forever, 

60 



THE ISLAND HOME 

And yonder is the trackless main ; 

Among them choose your path of life, 

And rich in joy may it e'er be ; 

My life will be a reign of strife 

Till God, in love, sets my soul free. 

There swings the bark I brought for you, 

So speed away where'er you will, 

Speed gaily on in your canoe, 

And may your mind soon learn to kill 

The seed of doubt, the weed distrust, 

And those harsh words you at me thrust." 

She swung her staff around her head, 

Then quickly to a high bank sped 

Where, turning back, she "good-bye" gave 

And disappeared beneath the wave. 



61 



WITCH GURNAY'S VICTORY 

THE Ranger replied, when clutched she his bow 
And flung it afar with a spiteful throw, 
''• Many words speak men, which have no meaning, 
Though all his senses are fully awake, 
While you, in silence, are ever weaving 
Those mighty commands which the mountains shake." 

" As reason pines whose roots all lead 
Back to the parent cone-born seed, 
So argue you, my eyes so bright, 
Who much will learn ere dies this night. 
I laugh in glee when blind men grope 
For fruit in which, they think, lives hope, 
Yet, thus are weeds 'mong flowers killed, 
And thus it is, the God has willed 
That man shall gain the sense of sight, 
To full behold the spirit's light, 
And reach at last his birthright place 
Where he may see Jehovah's face." 

"Devil thou art, or saint at will," 
The Ranger said, with nervous haste ; 

62 



WITCH GURNAY'S VICTORY 

"Yet, if a saint, why do you kill, ■ 
And beauty turn to wreck and waste ! " 
" A fool, you are, or not awake," 
She answered him, with twist and shake ; 
" That sinners die, is willed by God, 
And in His name I swing the rod 
To slay those vile, deceitful things, 
Who my sire killed with vip'rous stings." 

Very sternly was she watching 

While the people did her bidding, 

Crowding, pushing, shouting ever 

From the hill-tops and the river ; 

Chieftain, squaw, braves and papooses 

As a flume its torrent flushes, 

Surging onward down the valley, 

Frenzied by their lust and fury. 

" Ho ! ho ! " she shrieked, " now ends vengence 

Where fools will find death's grim silence, 

Although the flames they light in wrath 

Will thunder in my hidden path." 

Then thrust her eyes such a weird light, 
Intense, vibrant, potent in might, 
That by their glints the brave was bound, 
While, o'er the harsh and rocky ground 

63 



SASANOA AND THE WOOL WITCH 

They onward sped, along the path 

Ripped out by the volcano's wrath 

When, dancing with the earthquake shocks 

The bay flung up a surf of rocks. 

Not man or beast, or both combined, 

Then was the Witch, but rampant mind ; 

Aloud she roared, while rushing down 

That path, by death so thickly sown, 

" God once the earth subdued by rain 

When man, in sin, became so vain 

That to himself he glory took 

For all then writ in Nature's book ; 

So I, the Witch, at His command, 

Sweep the sinners from this land; 

That man may know all sin obtains 

The fruit of death from all its gains. 

When I am gone, your work will be 

To tell mankind salvation 's free, 

And he who lives a perfect life 

Breaks off the points of spear and knife." 

Quivering far down beyond ken of man, 
Where sulphurous bile fomented live gas, 
Which in quick belchings, through her bowels ran 
The supercharged earth soon came to a pass, 
Where vent must it give, or fly into space 

64 



WITCH GURNAY'S VICTORY 

A sputtering mass, its wild way to trace 
As meteors rush, when scatter they off 
And gravity's laws in defiance scoff. 

The part-human brains possessed by those 

Who thought an earthquake was a means chose 

By a tribal foe, to work his will, 

No knowledge possessed, no tact or skill 

To measure the cause of earth's upthrow, 

Or, of its coming, the sure signs to know. 

Wide yawned the crater, and through the caves, 

Rock-hid and vale-hid, was way wherein 

Mosata's small tribe, squaws, bucks and braves, 

Could a council hold, and yell their din 

Like owls, which " too ! hoo ! " where night's deep shades 

That courage nurses which daylight fades. 

Onward they skiltered, braves, bucks and squaws, 

To the vale rushing, until the jaws 

Then dully grinding, where earth's great vent 

Had for ages been, the mob saw spent, 

And all the living deep hid below 

The crust, where lava its swath would mow. 

This coming colic, this gripe of earth, 
This retching, belching, from which a birth, 

65 



SASANOA AND THE WOOL WITCH 

Death far outweighing, would soon spring out 

With travail and a thunderous shout, 

The Witch from Egypt had long known well, 

And planned she shrewdly, that this, the knell 

Of death should jangle for all the men 

She could inveigle below the glen. 

Where, o'er the crater, unstable lay 
Masses of boulders, then hastened they, 
She leading him on, and ere the sound 
Of scurrying feet, the dulling ground 
Had wrapt in echoes to their ears lost, 
With ashen lever, she one rock tost 
And then another, his strength with hers, 
Till, crashing downward, o'er jutting spurs, 
Twice ten flung they in, and then crept back 
To mark the hidden, blockaded track. 

He could not realize the deed so vast 
Finished when the last boulder was cast, 
Yet, knew that his feet teetered as if 
He sought to stand up in a rocking skiff. 
But Gurnay knew all — the earthquake throb, 
The rumbling, roaring, volcanic sob — 
And urged him away, calling in glee, 
" Now cometh the end ! for soon I' 11 see 



66 



WITCH GURNAY'S VICTORY 

The volcano's wrath rip out a way 
From Kennebec's shore unto the bay, 
And my foes behold, flung up on waves 
Of lavaous spume from my deep caves." 



67 



TRANSFORMATION 

MERRYMEETING, bay of pleasure, 
Now rest thy waves, and glide — glide — glide 
Pirouetting to the measure 
Swung to the depths of thy big tide 
By the spirit of thy father, 
The great forest, by thy mother, 
Big Sebago, and the brooklets, 
Kindred loving, who their couplets 
And their rippling merry solos 
In thy heart ring till it echoes 
All the music of thy people, 
And thy children sweetly songful. 
Linger with thy silent eddies 
Where thy tree friends shadows gather 
To protect thy blooming lilies 
From the scorching breath of summer. 
Listen, while the swallows whisper 
While those pick'rels, like bright arrows, 
Dart upon that school of minnows 
In that eel grass tangle yonder. 
Let thy water's mighty power 
Aid thy neighbor's fair-faced daughter 

68 



TRANSFORMATION 

Sasanoa, who is speeding 
Where Arrowsic now is waiting. 
See her ! see her ! she 's in danger ! 
There great rocks are — call thou to her ! 
Her bark has struck — ah ! there it sways 
While its light weight thy tide obeys. 

Watch Witch Gurnay's paddle swinging 

With a mighty twisting, turning ! 

Her canoe is leaping, bounding, 

And the wrecked one quick o'ertaking ; 

Ah ! her great arms firmly grasp her — 

Swing her as a wind-swept feather 

To the wide thwart in the center, 

Then she whispers, " Red man's daughter, 

Fair as sunbeams art thou, maiden, 

And thy soul 's with fragrance laden 

Like the flowers which my river 

Will baptize where sleeps my father." 

" Being, so kindly," Sasanoa said, 

While over her cheeks flushed tints of bright red, 

" Love in my bosom, her flowers had grown 

Long ere thy kindness to my heart was known, 

And even this day, while I sped on, free 

As foam flies over the crest of a wave, 

69 



SASANOA AND THE WOOL WITCH 

My heart has rejoiced, for singing to me, 

The promise has been, which true love once gave. 

But thou art a squaw upon whom my eyes 

With that terror gaze, which the sparrow knows, 

When close to her nest a greedy hawk flies, 

Or, around it howls a tempest of snows ; 

Your eyes reach into and scorch my heart, 

As a doe is pierced by an eagle's beak, 

They sharp gleams thrust, and glittering dart, 

But not unto me of love do they speak. 

With what of my life art thou woven in, 

Thou creature of blood, thou weirdness supreme, 

Thou thing of murder, thou weaver of sin 

Whose life surely is a long, troubled dream ? " 

As lightning flashes out of a sky 

So peaceful and still that cumuli 

Swing lazily where their downy hem 

Morning draped around the sky's blue gem 

So anger, which flared, rattled and crashed, 

Burst from the Wool Witch, who gay had been 

When all the paddles she splintered and smashed, 

And shrieked to the maid, who ne'er had seen 

In bloody battle, or wildest dreams 

Such eyes with thrusting, murderous gleams, 

" Can infants like you resemblance mark, 



70 



TRANSFORMATION 

Between your drifting through life alone, 
And this frail structure of pitch and bark 
Whose guiding power broadcast I 've thrown ? 
Not spirits like yours, whose holy life 
With animal lusts hold daily strife, 
Can know Witch Gurnay has pow'r to see 
The forces which made, and now rule thee ! 
Nay ! nay ! you weakling, for I 'm of those, 
The prophets and seers, Jehovah chose 
To hold up His light, when man fell down 
And lost amid sins his birthright crown. 
As a chip is swayed where rapids swirl, 
You flutter around, panting for breath, 
And within life's paunch, as sleeps a pearl, 
You dormantly wait for your own death." 

Then was the Wool Witch so intensely weird, 

This animal great, this mastering mind, 

Whose grey currentia the common brain seared, 

Or around its cells her mighty will twined, 

As she rocking lurched the big red canoe, 

That, from her, the maid slowly backward drew — 

Crept over the thwarts, with muscles tense strung 

In fear glancing up, until in the shank 

Of many-seamed birch, which the bow o'erhung, 

Her trembling body on the braces sank. 



7i 



SASANOA AND THE WOOL WITCH 

Quick changed again, the Witch of dreams, 
And love subdued her eyes' fierce gleams ; 
She crouched low down, and with her hair 
Her form concealed, which then was bare, 
But where the tufts of wool clung in 
The remnants of a black sheep skin. 
She, sighing, said, " Hear me, my child, 
While rests, a space, my heart so wild. 
Wise in the strength of God, and true, 
Thus be thou, child, each day anew, 
Drink deeply from the holy cup, 
And ever to the cross look up." 

By tide compelled, the canoe reached 

Where Brunswick's shore with sand was beached ; 

Where curved a bay, and eddies bound 

The forest's drift, which there swung round. 

"I love thee, child," she said — yes, sung — 

This agile one, who quickly sprung 

From the canoe, and kicked it back 

Beyond the tide's revolving track. 



72 



BIRTH OF THE RIVER SASANOA 

A SOMNOLENT day, coquetting with noon, 
Westward was glancing, very much too soon 
To please the forests, which their dark lanes fill 
With stores of sunlight when their leaves are still, 
Or the patient plants, whose blossoms bow low 
When, to the eastward, the shadows dense grow. 
High, o'er Hockamock, curled a plume of smoke, 
And a fountain gushed, which, bellowing, broke 
Far above the trees in showers of rain, 
As waves cast their crests, to be flung again 
By the crater's breath, till, with them, the glow 
Of the sun en wove a brilliant-hued bow. 

Among the wigwams of Chief Mosata 
Was absence of life — except the ponies — 
At this fateful time; e'en the tribe's mother 
Had lamely crawled out with her papooses 
To the naked bluff, from which could be seen 
All the eastern shore, and the tide between — 
That bluff, above which man's science has made 
Staunch vessels of wood, which his will obey ; 
Those ships which have flown upon ev'ry sea 
Our banner of hope — the flag of the free. 

73 



SASANOA AND THE WOOL WITCH 

The air swayed down, and among the trees 

Was but a zephyr, though seemed it the seas 

Were all rushing in, to fill Kennebec 

With boiling waters, which shuttled a wreck 

Of rocks, men and trees, and surged up the shore, 

Where flung they of death a revolting store. 

Soon, wove black darkness with smoke, o'er the earth, 

While she roared and groaned the pains of a birth. 

Contending earthquakes all blending in one, 

Seemed the convulsion, which rended the ground 

And clutched the black air, as if then was done 

The death of Nature by a mortal wound. 

Far up to Whizgig, and Spirit Bride Isle, 

The fighting waters were a hissing pile, 

Which fought on — and on, down to Fiddler's Reach 

Where, the sea rushed in with a roar and screech, 

And flung back the waves in two seething ranks 

Curving far below to Kennebec's bed — 

And then — awful then ! through the vale they fled 

Where, doubly angered by burning gas 

Lighted by red men within the dark pass, 

Nature ripped open the valley of graves, 

And, flinging the rocks of Hell Gate away, 

Turned into the breech the great host of waves, 

Which a river made to Hockamock bay. 



74 



ARROWSIC 

WHERE rocks were piled in masses black — 
Some honeycombed, because their veins 
By fire were drained, and others slack, 
Both rendered thus by mighty strains 
The earth had borne from flames which rent 
What dared their strength, by confined air 
O'er lava seas which curved, then bent 
Earth's inner frame, and then, where rare 
The vital breath, crept through the ground, 
On — on — until a vent they found — 
Arrowsic woke from the control 
Which Gurnay's brain had o'er him held, 
And then his mind, as when mists roll 
From off the earth, himself beheld. 

Though red man he, yet was his brain 
More fully grey, more sensitive, 
More broad in front, more finely lain 
Than those with whom he came to live 
When Jewish blood with his sire's race 
Wove in, to give a higher place 
To those wherein the monkey life 
With growing souls held constant strife. 

75 



SASANOA AND THE WOOL WITCH 

Thus, reason we, the Wool Witch dwelled 

Within his brain, and firmly held 

It by her great hypnotic strength 

For hours and days, yea, any length 

Of time, wherein his nerves, high strung, 

Could bear the weight she on them hung. 

The Witch was there, that is, the mind 
Which round his brain her will had twined, 
But not the weird, the painted oof 
From whom all men then held aloof : 
Nay, in her place a form upright, 
Of graceful lines, with dignity 
And suppleness which would delight 
An artist's eye, a face then free 
From hint of wrath, an eye as pure, 
A mouth as sweet, as sculptured is 
Of those whose days were lived so sure 
As goddesses and deities. 

The isle was there, fair Spirit Bride, 
The sweeping bay and swinging tide, 
All these he saw, and more, he heard, 
As if afar, a whisper stirred 
The air, which came so calm and sweet, 
His waking mind with balm to greet, 

76 



ARROWSIC 

" Son of the east, I saved your life, 

When you believed that human strife 

Unaided, could that power stay 

Which gave man life and rules his way. 

I 've used you as, when men stalk deer 

They draw the game by staying fear. 

Now — go I where? I do not know, 

For my life's streams through dark ways flow, 

But you, if wise, will seek the goal 

Where love will sing unto your soul." 

As if through curtains there drawing aside, 
He saw her depart, where Kennebec's tide 
Quick caught her canoe and swept it along 
'Mong currents growing each moment more strong. 
Then heard he voices which unto him spake 
Of his boyhood days, when river and lake 
Their music joined in with his friends, the trees, 
Who unto him spake when gentle the breeze, 
When gales were howling, or, when gently calm 
The air wove round him its somnolent charm ; 
He saw the whirlwinds o'er Katahdin's crown 
When billows of snow rolled over the land, 
Or, fluffy white as the thistle's down, 
Lay mists of morning, ere with silver band 
Crowned they the mountain below his snow crests ; 



77 



SASANOA AND THE WOOL WITCH 

Then, hurrying down o'er the ice-bound leas, 
With draping laces around their breasts, 
They joined Penobscot and sped to the seas. 



The sky he could see, the river and bay, 
But not the valley and that cave-lined way, 
That path of horror, those mummies, that bier, 
The one whose presence was itself a fear, 
Who was the being he so long had been ? 
Where was he, the one who Gurnay had seen ? 
Where were those throbbing, those sinuous hands 
Which bound his brow with electrical bands ? 

Beyond measure strange, to this son of men 
Who measured life by its birth and death, 
Were the scenes flitting around him then, 
As frost-pictures spring from man's heated breath. 
Soon came unto him a reacting dream 
Wherein was his way, like a roaring stream 
Among great mountains, where a line of sky, 
As if the lightning its place had riven, 
Reached out a beacon to his anxious eye ; 
While whirling, tossing, was he then driven, 
A helpless being, through darkness alone, 
On, ever onward into lands unknown. 

78 



ARROWSIC 

Then came unto him that quiescent state 

Wherein our bodies expectantly wait, 

While our spirits roam through unmeasured space, 

There greeting a kin, here kissing a face, 

The essence of life weaving in with ours 

From out of the past and the future's dowers — 

Weaving and weaving till we see the thread 

Which into dreamland our guided feet led ; 

Then, sweetly he slept, as baby who wakes 

To nestle again with comforting sighs, 

As Nature sleepeth when her mood partakes 

Of the calmness born when a tempest dies. 



79 



THE NEW MORNING 

SASANOA ! Squaw ? Yes, if but a name, 
A definition painted on the frame 
Which upholdeth man above the grinning, 
Creeping, limping apes out of which he grew, 
Could thus define her, but in the moulding ; 
By Nature's sculptor, genius ever true ; 
She was more than squaw, the Indian wife, 
Or the wife to be, for, amid the strife 
Which came in Nature, when o'er Behring's Isles 
Israel's remnants came, and mixed their blood 
With the apish men, and inwove their wiles — 
Grown sharp in bondage — with the roaming brood 
Whose foreheads, only slightly stored with brain 
Cells wherein the grey, red was thrusting back, 
Sloped like the housings built to throw off rain, 
And crani rutted like a wind-swept stack, 
Mongrel children came, and she among them 
Most mongrel of all, like a misplaced gem 
Shined, and, untutored ; because her forebears 
So long had wandered that their mental store 
Was, like their food bags, suggestive of lairs, 
In brain upbuilding ; yet a power bore 

80 



THE NEW MORNING 

Of mind, which, joined with facial beauty rare, 
With graceful stature, and the red-gold hair — 
By Egypt's maidens craved so long ago — 
The hair all amber, all a lustrous glow, 
The eyes all ripened with the richest hues, 
The teeth all pearly, like the hardened dews, 
The voice all music, like the mingling keys 
Of ocean's basses and the hum of bees, 
A princess made her, e'en had not her sires 
Been 'mong the wisest at the council fires. 



Yet, potent in her, was the life which saw 

The crucifixion, and the holy awe 

Which the hearts of men then filled, and lifted 

Where the Son had gone, like unto sifted 

Gold her soul encased, to sustain it pure 

Till, by chosen means, slow perchance, but sure, 

Those who placed her there, Mother, God and Son, 

The mighty trio, One, the Holy One, 

Who joined their voices in its silenced song 

For her uplifting till her soul grew strong, 

Till burst it from the darkness deep with age, 

Swept back the fury of the red man's rage, 

And reaching upward to the outstretched arm 

By it be lifted far above earth's harm. 

81 



SASANOA AND THE WOOL WITCH 

God guideth ever with the greatest care 
Those whom He chooses His message to bear, 
Thus may it be true, His eye marked the place 
Where the princess slept behind Whizgig race, 
While the earth upheaved and the river rushed, 
The thunders bellowed and boulders were crushed, 
While two isles were made of the vale-joined land, 
And the Wool Witch trapped Mosata's wild band, 
For there was she safe, and there was her meat, 
Her couch of soft furs, and round that retreat 
Gurnay was watching, yea, she oft came near 
And knelt by the couch her heart's beat to hear, 
To measure the speed, to keen tell the pow'r 
Of drugs she gave her anew ev'ry hour. 



When morning came in, the same bright sunrise 
Which o'er the river touched Arrowsic's eyes, 
Awoke the princess, and the rivulet 
Near her bivouac, where at last sunset 
She had dipped deep in — taking as it was meant 
By the God to be, for human cleansing — 
Threw off her garments, few they were, and went 
Full dressed with Nature's silky skin, wearing 
Her golden-brown hair for robe de bano, 
And more, the virtues which unblushing go 

82 



THE NEW MORNING 

Where vices shamed are, as they seek to hide 
The sham of virtue they are flaunting wide. 

Deep dipped she into the abundant bowl, 
And arose therefrom glistening with its gems, 
Which o'er her tresses gladly seemed to roll 
And clung along their curling webs like hems, 
Catching the sun's rays till, when danced she up, 
And deep sank again, 't was as if the cup 
Had flung her thick with diamonds bright — 
Not in niggardness, but because her right 
It was to wear them — and glad indeed they 
Clung so near the one who witching lay 
Undulating in their deep-hidden store, 
Ere, gliding from them, she sped up the shore, 
Only to linger where the twin-tides cling, 
To don her garments, and to sweetly sing : 

" River swift, river bright, 
Sing unto me, 

While my bark, floating light, 
Drifts on with thee. 

" Sing thy lay, river deep, 
That I may know 
What thy waves hidden keep 
Far down below." 



83 



SASANOA AND THE WOOL WITCH 

Scarce had the echoes of that lay so sweet 
Their minor intones brought, her words to greet, 
When an alto voice, mayhap by the tide 
Or the sea gulls brought, whispering, replied : 

" All the dew from the mountain rills, 
All the clouds from the mighty hills, 
All the songs which the zephyrs sing 
All the gales which the tempests bring, 

" These we keep in our waves, 
Far down below, 
These we bear to the caves 
Whence all tides flow." 

As friend of friend would ask a boon 

And more, as if 't were joy, so soon 

To answer give the unknown one 

Who through her voice had kindness done, 

She raised her song, and standing where 

The bay curved in, caroled the air : 

" But the book, river old, 
In which you keep 
All the tales which are told 
While humans sleep. 

84 



THE NEW MORNING. 

" Tell to me what you know 
Of human life, 
Whence does its being flow, 
Whence comes its strife ? " 

" What is writ in my record great, 
What I know of the human fate, 
All I see with my many eyes 
In earth and sea and mighty skies, 

" Unto you hid must be 
Till life is past, 
Then shall you clearly see 
All things at last — 

" All the joy of the perfect life 
Where peace is born, and dieth strife 
And with friends united be, 
As I live with the boundless sea — 

" Drift like me, sing like me, 
Calmly my friend, 
Ever true, ever free, 
Unto the end." 

Had mortal voice the air constrained 
To waft the words the song refrained 

85 



SASANOA AND THE WOOL WITCH 

In echoes which rang back more sweet, 
And songful pure with each repeat, 
Which came, perhaps, from out the caves 
Or rippled in upon the waves ? 

Vain queries hers ; the song was past, 
As all life's joys which cannot last ; 
Yet, harkened she, and peered among 
The rocks and trees, which there o'erhung 
The beach of sand, so white and hard, 
As if the spot secure to guard. 

Naught found she there but Nature's wilds, 

Which to her mind, as to a child's, 

Then peopled were with forms of grace 

Which danced around from place to place, 

And flung to her, as dream-songs ring, 

The strains she heard the unknown sing. 

At length, refreshed by the repast 

For her there placed by unseen hands, 

The great canoe, which tides had cast 

Unharmed upon the softer sands, 

She launched again, and at its side, 

Her foot upraised with balance sure, 

She ready was for it to glide 

Where, hand of love, perchance 't would moor ; 

86 



THE NEW MORNING 

When queried one who held it there 

By curving stem, a giantess 

Of noble mein, whose golden hair 

In waving mass fell o'er her dress 

Of pliant skins with gems rich traced, 

" What now, fair one ? Have you the tides 

Within your hands, or winds effaced, 

That like the gull, which safely glides, 

Or its wing spreads, where'er it may, 

You launch your bark, when not an oar 

Within it lies to shape your way, 

Or keep you from a rocky shore ? " 

As if herself to place aright 
Before the one, who took delight, 
As seemed her mein and glance to prove, 
In that respect which children give, — 
Low bowed with grace, not less complete 
Than is that taught where nimble feet 
The measures mark of stately dance, — 
This nature child — yet with a glance 
In wild trails trained, which keenly read 
The unknown one, who bowed her head 
As if in prayer, ere saying, " Maid, 
The oars are here and I 'm with you ; 
No longer shall you be delayed, 

87 



SASANOA AND THE WOOL WITCH 

No longer wait my great canoe ; 

Come sail with me where winds are free 

And thy true love awaiteth thee." 

Some power great those eyes possessed 

Which glanced around and then impressed 

Their vibrant gleams like thrusts of lance 

Upon the maid, who, half askance, 

Was passing then along the shore, 

For, turning quick, the bark she gained, 

Within it sprung, and with an oar 

Its swaying and its drift restrained, 

Till, leaping in, the stranger cried, 

" Away ! away ! with wind and tide ! " 

Soon drew she near the princess' side, 

And nestling there, as if to hide 

The tenderness her eyes expressed, 

Or love's pulse touch while she confessed 

What long had lain 'mid grief and woe, 

She spake in tones which only flow, 

When peace, long sought, has come to bring 

That strength to which man's soul must cling, 

" Child of the east, how fair you are ! 

How like the flow'rs whose petals glow 

Where Egypt's sun, yea, ev'ry star, 

'T would seem, on them their hues bestow. 



88 



THE NEW MORNING 

'Tis such as you man's senses fill 
With holy strength, and yet, may kill, 
Yea, lead man's heart to its own death, 
If taint of sin's consuming breath 
Your perfume taints, or the clear light 
Of your grand eyes permits the flight 
Of witchery, which goes askance 
In search of game, with coaxing glance." 

Sasanoa ! what priceless wealth 

Came to you then, as if by stealth, 

From those great eyes, lashed golden brown, 

From that strong face below the crown 

Of greying bronze, in which alone 

Was passing marked of Time's year-stone ! 

Ah ! soulful pow'r ! Ah ! joyous bell ! 

You felt and heard, but could not tell 

Their meaning sure, their all to you, 

Although your soul their import knew. 

Gently rocking, slowly gliding, 
While in wonder she was watching, 
While her paddle's rythmic dipping 
Measured surely her heart's beating, 
Swayed the canoe upon the swell 
Where trees hung low a creek around 

89 



SASANOA AND THE WOOL WITCH 

Where the shadows in broad beams fell — 
Gliding — drifting, without a sound. 

With arm entwined in close embrace, 
With head bowed low until her face 
The maiden's touched, the unknown spake, 
In those glad tones which joys awake, — 
" Where sleeps the Nile that it may fill 
Its drying pools, from brook and rill 
Which its stores bring but slowly down 
From harvests by the night mists sown, 
A soul took flight, and sped away 
Where, not quite born, a male child lay. 
That soul came here and was joined in 
With red-celled brains inbred with sin — 
Oh Egypt's child ! my heart was sad 
When came to me the awful day — 
That day when I in heart was mad, 
If not in mind, for then I lay 
My baby down, and fled where all 
Was strange to me, but where the call 
Of mother's love could yet find way 
To the safe place where baby lay — 
Went forth to kill, burn and destroy 
The things who 'reft me of my joy, 
And since have lived where the great sea 



90 



THE NEW MORNING 

And river voice but one refrain — 
Of thee to me — of thee — of thee — 
And forests sing it back again." 

" Of me to thee ! why should the sea 

Forever sing of me to thee ? " 

The princess asked, and then, compelled, 

By the one touch which hearts have held 

So close entwined since love came down 

This earthly life to bless and crown, 

Her ripe lips touched those growing old, 

As baby's lips bring down their gold, 

Their treasures rich ; where mother lies 

With soul aglow to hear his cries — 

Those notes which tell that through her pain 

Her life, in his, is born again ; 

Yea, touched her lips, and more, her heart 

Then touched a chord which drew apart 

The curtains hung around her past, 

And mother's face revealed at last. 

Responsive to the maid's caress, 
What could she do but then express 
That love sublime, which mother fills, 
That love complete, which love distills 
Strong, pure and free, that all-in-all 



9 1 



SASANOA AND THE WOOL WITCH 

Of love which lives each day more bright 
Till mother hears the Master's call 
And bears it up to Heav'n's light ? 

Ah ! rich the words the twain then spake 

As is the bread our souls partake 

When, at the shrine we low bow down 

And touch the drops from Jesus' crown. 

Crude though they were, with minds less trained 

Than since have been the higher brained 

From them grown up ; while o'er and o'er 

Time's bells have rung along that shore 

A hundred years — woven with tears — 

Great sheaves of years — with griefs and fears — 

Yet, as the flow'rs know each their mates, 

Their hearts joined in, so wove their fates, 

And Gurnay — Witch — fond mother there, 

Her baby blessed with untaught prayer. 

But, who among the cedars peered 
While silently the bark was steered 
By currents swung as flood tide swelled 
The shallow waves the bayou held ? 
How held that face her fixed gaze ! 
How round it framed were bygone days ! 
How to her heart it sent a thrill 



92 



THE NEW MORNING 

From memories no time can still 
While life to life gives life supreme 
And in us lives those hopes we dream ! 
Calm was the air, but yet it bore 
A whisper soft along the shore — 
A dulcet tone which touched the key 
Forged deep within his destiny — 
The master key — but yet, entranced 
He peered on her — bewildered glanced. 

That wondrous love which filled her soul 

Absorbed her in its great control. 

" My brave ! my brave ! look ! look ! 't is I ! " 

Was her great-joyed, inspiring cry. 

She sprang upon the shelving sand 

By tide submerged, she swam - — she ran. 

A woman ! yet a being grand, 

A neophyte, who knew no ban 

To what her heart then bade her bear 

Unto the one her all would share. 

She gained his side — then from his eyes 
Fled all the clouds and mysteries — 
Then Egypt's child and Israel's son 
Were heart to heart — were only one. 
Then 'mong a race to apes near kin, 



93 



SASANOA AND THE WOOL WITCH 

A higher strain was woven in ; 

Witch Gurnay's child then reached above 

The common squaw, and shrined her love. 

Tides cannot wait while lovers bless 
Their long-sought mates with fond caress, 
Nor stayed the Witch who to them brought 
The peace for both she long had sought. 



Oh ! river whose tides so much joy have known, 
Whose life has been wove with ages of grief, 
You saw the lovers, and went on alone 
While they interwove their hearts' holy sheaf. 
Yea, you turned away and sped to the sea 
Repeating their words with the greatest glee, 
Bidding the eddies and the tides " watch out ! " 
And when their canoe came gaily along, 
With hurrah ! hurrah ! in a roaring shout, 
Onward you bore them where thy new child's song 
Echoed through tide-rips, the eddies and spray, 
" Peace, Sasanoa, till the endless day." 
You rippled with joy, but sighed, when you saw 
The mystic Gurnay, the creature of war, — 
The Wool Witch — weeping in her red canoe, 
And heard her moaning — " My baby ! adieu ! " 



94 



THE NEW MORNING 

The race at Whizgig, where eddies abide 

And intermingle with Kennebec's tide, 

By the bay held back that it may refill 

The bayous which run to old Sewall's mill, 

The river which spreads around Dresden neck 

Where long, sand-bar reefs the shallops oft wreck, 

The Winslow ledges where the narrows bend 

And Moosehead's waters in Canobie's blend 

With brine which the sea on the floodtide pours 

Unceasingly on o'er the rocky shores, 

The meadows so broad and the rolling vales 

Where the snow piles deep when roar winter's gales, 

Beheld not again the great Witch of Fate, 

Nor did her river see Hockamock's mate, 

Daughter of Egypt, who with Nazarene, 

Brought forth in wedlock Arrowsic's fair queen — 

Gone was weird Gurnay, who revenged her sire, 

In the vale of graves with volcanic fire. 

On an oval isle where ocean pours in 

Its big undertow with a ceaseless din, 

Though calm it may be, and the breakers reach 

In relays of foam up a shelving beach — 

An island where pines the ground covered o'er 

With a carpet wove of ripe cone and spore, 

Where gnarley red oaks stood in long, grim ranks 

95 



SASANOA AND THE WOOL WITCH 

With their roots entwined, to protect the banks 

Where the squirrels thrived till their chitter-chats 

Was all the voice there but yap of the bats — 

'T was there the Wool Witch lived on with the years, 

Her memories rich, her joys and her tears, 

Alone — all alone, until — " It is done ! " 

Was called from above, then, Arrowsic's son 

Made her a wigwam upon the north mound, 

A deep trench of rocks by the oaks framed round, 

Where river with sea and big Sheepscot bay 

Repeat the wonders of Wool Witch Gurnay. 




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